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1828 
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THE 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



6s THS 



REV. WM.H.DE LANCEY, D. D. 



Provost of the University of Pennsylvania; 



DEIIVEBED BSJOBE 



THE TRUSTEES, FACULTY, AND STUDENTS, 



XR THE C01UMB CHAPXBj 



WEDNESDAY, SBPTEMBBB 17iB, 1838, 



2BBIJSHBT) Bl IBB BOABB 01 TBWX^JS. 



PHILADELPHIA 

laid.' 



3SS 



THE 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



OF THE 



REV. WM, H. DE L.ANCEY, D. D. 

Provost of the University of Pennsylvania ; 



DELIVERED BEFORE 



THE TRUSTEES, FACULTY, AND STUDENTS, 



I3T THE COLLEGE CHAPEL, 



ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17th, 1828. 






PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, 



Vishb 



PHILADELPHIA : 

PRINTED AT THE UNITED STATES GAZETTE OFFICE. 



18)38. 






University ©f Pennsylvania, 

September 17*/i, J 828. 

Sir: At a meeting of the Board of Tmstees held this day, it 
was, on motion of Mr. Rawle, seconded by Mr. Binney, 

Resolved unanimously^ That the thanks of the Board be trans- 
mitted to the Provost for his excellent Inaugural Address, deli- 
vered this morning, which the Board heard with entire approba- 
tion; and that he be requested to furnish the Secretary with a 
copy for publication. 

From the Minutes. 

JOS. REED, Secretary. 

Rev. Dr William H. De Lancey, 

Provost oj the University of Pennsylvania. j» 



Philadelphia, September 18r/i, 1828. 

Dear Sir: In compliance with the very flattering request of 
the Board of Trustees, I send to you my Inaugural Address. 

Trusting that the publication of it may serve to promote the 
interests of the University, by extending more widely a know- 
ledge of the new and elevated footing on which, in regard to its 
instructions, arrangement, and d eciphne, the wisdom of the 
Board has placed the Collegiate Department of the Institution, 
I remain, very truly, yours, &c. 

WILLIAM H DE LANCEY. 
Joseph Reed, Esq. 

Secretary of the Board of Trustees. 



ADDRESS 



GENTLEMEN, 

The Trustees, the Faculty, the Students, and the Friends*, vf the 
University of Pennsylvania: 

The circumstances under which we meet at the present pe- 
riod are, in every view that can be taken of them, peculiarly in- 
teresting to us all. 

To you, Gentlemen Of the Board of Trustees, the occasion is 
one of interest, since it is the opening of that new course of ex- 
ertion in behalf of the University of Pennsylvania, on which 
the earnest expectation of an interested community, as well as 
your own equally earnest desires, are fixed, as the means of its 
future elevation; and since, by the recent measures of your 
Board, you stand pledged to the public on the responsibility of 
your word, honor, reputation, and stewardship, to throw the en- 
tire weight of your extended and powerful influence into the 
scale of the institution of which you are the constituted guar* 
dians* 



To us, my brethren of the Faculty, the present circumstances 
are interesting almost beyond the power of an estimate For, 
whether the view be just or unjust, a scrutinizing public inva- 
riably associate the prosperity or decline of a literary institution 
with the character, diligence and talents, of those who conduct 
its government and its instructions; and they cannot be deterred 
from regarding, nor from pronouncing, the measure of the former 

the certain standard of the latter. To us, then, the present oc- 
casion marks the commencement of a career of labor in which 

not merely our personal and domestic interests, but, to a wide 

extent, ©ur character and standing with the public, are deeply 

implicated. 

To you young gentlemen, the Students of the University, our 
present meeting is one of interest, because it is the beginning of 
a system, of instruction and discipline in some respects new, un- 
der the tuition and control of a faculty, who are in some degree 
strangers to yon: but who, nevertheless, will cheerfully pledge a 
paternal interest in your welfare, and their utmost energy in the 
effort to expand your minds, enlarge your acquirements, and im- 
plant the seeds of that knowledge which must be the foundation 
of your future eminence, respectability, and happiness, in the 
world. 

To the friends of the University, under which term I trust 
may be included not only the respectable audience whom I now 
address, but the great majority of the community .within the 
limits of Philadelphia, the present meeting may be pronounced 



interesting in the extreme. An Institution, which was originally 
called into life for your accommodation; and which, however it 
may retain a nominal, can have no efficient and profitable exist- 
ence without your patronage and favor, is on the eve of an in- 
tended resuscitation; and, at this moment, comes forward to ask 
at your hands, not only a candid interpretation of the measures 
of its Governors, but a favorable estimate of its present claims; 
and your countenance to the united exertions of its Trustees and 
Faculty, to render it, in respect of its future discipline and in- 
structions, as worthy of your support, as it is, in regard to its lo- 
cation, deserving of your favor. Every individual among us, 
who now sustains, or who shall ever sustain, the endearing and 
tender relations of a parent, must respond from his inmost soul 
to the present effort to revive a college, where his sons may at- 
tain an adequate collegiate education without encountering the 
increased expenses, and the moral penis, of an estrangement 
from the delights, associations, and counsels, of the parental 
roof. 

It will strike you at once, that as respects the individual who 
addresses you on this occasion in a new capacity, the present cir- 
cumstances are of a kind calculated to impress him deeply. I stand 
before you the incumbent of a station wholly unsolicited; the 
distinction of which is fully equalled by its difficulties; and in 
which the responsibility to the Board who have honored me with 
the appointment, to the Faculty with whom I am called to act, to 
the voulh who shall become the alumni of the Institution, and to 
the parents who may commit their offspring to its care 3 is, and is felt 



s 

to be, of the deepest and most solemn kind. To this office, if I 
bring no large amount of the peculiar experience which belongs 
to it, I may venture to say that I do bring the most cordial interest, 
the purpose of entire devotion, and the strongest convictions of 
its high responsibility. Such as my talents, information, and ex- 
perience are, they shall be unsparingly bestowed upon its duties. 
I should shrink, however, from the station, were it not that I 
trust to be sustained by the wisdom, zeal, and experience of a 
most enlightened and influential Board of Trustees — by the ta- 
lent, established characters, and tried capacities, of the able and 
learned Faculty with whom I am associated — by the favorable 
views of this distinguished community — and, especially, by the 
favor, guidance, and blessing of Him, on whom, neither on this, 
nor on any other occasion, would I omit to acknowledge my de- 
pendence. 

The very brief period which has elapsed between the date of 
my appointment and the present moment, added to the burden of 
the preparatory arrangements of the new 6jstem, necessarily pre- 
cludes my attempting at this time, any thing more than a ra- 
pid sketch of the benefits of a Collegiate Edacation; a brief de- 
velopement of the system of instruction and discipline adopted 
in the University; and the exhibition of some of those claims 
which it is (wnceived an Institution located in this city has upon 
the fostering encouragement of the public. 

In displaying the benefits of a collegiate education, it may be 
stated as one of its principal advantages, that collegiate studies 
invigorate the mind. 



That curious machine which the all wise and omnipotent 
Creator has placed within our frames, unlive the workmanship 
of human hands, is strengthened and improved the more it is 
employed. Its etherial materials do not wear out, and break, 
and thus stop its progress, like the yielding substances around us, 
which use or accident deteriorate, render useless, or destroy. 
The mind is strengthened by use. The studies therefore which 
are best adapted to exercise its utmost powers, are, at the same 
time, best calculated to stimulate them. Of this character are 
the studies pursued in a collegiate course, and which are usually 
arranged under the four comprehensive departments of the Lan- 
guages, Moral Philosophy, JSatural Philosophy, and Mathema- 
tics. They extort from the student the application of memory, 
judgment, discrimination, attention, and the faculty of reasoning. 
The mind is drawn out as it were from its recesses of ignorance 
and inactivity. It is made to work — to apply all its powere — to 
collect, compare, and digest the subjects on which it is fixed. 
Some branches of the course may exert the invigorating influence 
more powerfully than others; but there is not one of them that 
fails to exert it to a degree. Their united influence is forcible- 
indeed: and it is as impossible to prosecute these studies without 
adding vigor to the mental power- as to engage in a system of 
corporeal exercise without strengthening the body. Collegiate 
studies are the gymnastics of the intellect. 

These studies are, also, calculated to expand the mind. Un- 
like material vessels, the more you crowd into the mind the more 
capacious it becomes. It opens under the influence of study, as 
% 



10 

the flower unfolds its leaves to the invigorating rays of the sun. 
But it differs from the flower in the extent of its expanding pro- 
perty. In the latter, when its leaf is wholly unclosed, and its 
brilliant bosom unveiled to the king of day, it has reached the 
limit of its display — its beauties are fully seen. But in the 
mind, there is no no reaching the confines of its powers of im- 
provement. They widen, and lengthen, and deepen, with every 
step of progress. The farther you advance, the more boundless 
is the prospect: the deeper you penetrate, the more unfathoma- 
ble seem* the abyss: the loftier the flight, the more distant ap- 
pears the brilliant canopy which encloses its exertions. 

Now it is the effect of collegiate studies to further this pro- 
gressive improvement of the mind; to remove the obstacles which 
cramp it; to dispel the ignorance and timidity which hinder its 
its expansion. A host of new ideas are admitted: new combi- 
nations of thought arise: more extended views crowd out the 
narrow conceptions of ignorance: the secret causes of the phe- 
nomena of nature are unfolded. A multitude of visible appear- 
ances on which before it had looked with the common asto~ 
nishment of ignorance as inexplicable, are now unveiled to its 
apprehension. The connexions of argument are traced, and the 
dependencies of reasoning discerned. The beauties of authors 
once read with no other associations but those of a task, are per- 
ceived and felt. The mind looks in upon itself, learns whence 
the thoughts arise, and how they may be reduced to the order of 
continuous and connected expression. The hidden treasures of 
its vernacular tongue are brought forth to its view, acquired and 






ii 

relished: and {he delighted youth begins to read not merely with 
his eye, but with his understanding. It is not meant that colle- 
giate studies complete the furniture of the mind, nor that they 
carry it to the extremity of information on the several topics 
which they embrace They are designed rather to open to the 
student the avenues of knowledge on various subjects, by disclos- 
ing its principles and mode of application; to remove the difficul- 
ties which lie in such abundance at their entrance; and to fur- 
nish hiai with a chart and compass by which he may traverse 
any branch of the great sea of knowledge with safety, profit, and 
delight. 

With the expanding effect of collegiate studies on the mind, 
there is connected a pleasure which yields in force to none but 
those deep emotions of delight which flow from the religion of the 
cross, and which are occasionally allotted to a long-tried, consist- 
ent, and solid piety. I refer to that indescribable feeling of sa- 
tisfaction which accompanies the acquisition of knowledge. 
Sometimes the emotion is felt when the mind is in the act of re- 
ceiving any of those new combinations of thought to which it 
was before a stranger. Sometimes the feeling is experienced 
when the ingenuous youth, with every faculty stretched into eager 
attention, is listening to the expositions of his instructor unfolding 
to him the secret cause of some obvious phenomena as long fa- 
miliar to his eye as inexplicable to his mind. Sometimes this 
pleasure is tasted when, after a laborious and almost desponding 
investigation of some intricate point of science, the right appre- 
hension of it suddenly flashes on the mind with the rapidity of 



12 

lightning, and with a thrill of satisfaction, of which those on'y 
who have experienced it can form an adequate conception It is 
a mingled emotion of surprise, self-gratulation, and delight, con- 
stituting an intellectual pleasure of the highest kind, and is now 
referred to as an incidental proof of the expanding influence of 
collegite studies, since it is a pleasure which can arise from no 
other cause but the expanding operation of study on the mind. 

Collegiate studies give method and precision to the mental 
operations; and this constitutes another most beneficial effect 
produced by them on the minds and habits of the young. 

In the first openings of the human mind all its operations are 
vague, desultory, and unconnected It flutters about from one 
topic to another, but scarcely dwelling upon anyone long enough 
to inhale its substantial benefits To ^ix its attention and subdue 
its volatility; to give permanency to the evanescent impressions 
which are made upon it; to shut out the influence of diverting 
and interrupting objects; and to train it to that power of abstrac- 
tion which is essential to the due acquisition ol knowledge— - 
these constitute a work of which every parent and every teacher 
has felt the necessity and the difficulty, and the prosecution of 
which is as vexatious and burdensome to them as the performance 
of it is essential to the successful education of the child. The 
capacity of fully concentrating the mind is indeed one of the 
most difficult, and one of the latest acquisitions that is made by 
men To thousands who attempt the search, it is a jewel never 
found. And yet in almost every department of human occupa- 



13 

(ioa, it is an acquisition of most commanding importance. It in- 
volves discrimination, judgment, coolness, the power of abstrac- 
tion, and that subjection of the understanding to the will, which 
the most rigid discipline only can accomplish. Without it, no 
man can excel in any profession in which eminence depends 
upon the labors of the mind. Without it, the lawyer would be- 
come bewildered, the physician a trifler with human sufferings 
and human life, the philosopher a dreamer, the merchant con- 
founded by the complications of his business, and the divine lost 
amidst the opposing systems, views, translations and expositions, 
through which he must pass on his way to religious truth. Jn 
short, the mind unpossessed of this power of concentration, in the 
midst of its pursuits, most resembles the surface of the sea 
covered by the wreck and fragments of the Trojan fleet.* 

Now, it is the tendency of collegiate studies to exercise the 
mind with a view to the remedy of this striking evil. They 
compel the student to fix his attention. They farce him to prac- 
tice this concentration of mind. They impart precision to his 
views, and method to his conceptions They exercise his powers 
of discrimination, taste, and judgment. They constrain him to 
think — to think connectedly and deeply. This is particularly 
the effect of mathematical studies, whilst it flows more or less 
from almost every branch of his collegiate pursuits. If these 
studies be engaged in with zeal and industry, the result will be 
inevitable. It is only by this constant exercise on subjects which 
cannot be pursued without more or less abstraction, that the mind 

* " Arma virum, tabulaeq: et Troiagazaper undas." 



14 

can be trained to a steady application of its powers. Such sub- 
jects wage an unceasing war with mental volatility. And he who 
has once encountered the demonstrations of Euclid, or the pro- 
blems of the higher mathematics, or even become thoroughly 
versed in the principles of any single science, well knows that 
to gather up the lubricous particles of mercury between the 
fingers, is as hopeful an attempt as to prosecute these studies 
effectually with a confused or unconcentrated mind. Col- 
legiate studies may be considered as constituting the mental 
training of the intellectual soldier, without which it is as unlikely 
that he should prosecute his future contests with prejudice, so- 
phistry, and ignorance successfully, as that the raw recruit, un- 
practised in the tactios which he is called to exercise, should be 
able to contend with the steady discipline and skillful evolutions 
of the veteran. 

It would occupy us too long to dwell, even in the cursory man- 
ner in which I have touched the preceding topics, on all the bene- 
fits of a collegiate education. Besides their stimulating and ex- 
panding influence, and the effect they produce in teaching the 
mind the full and efficient use of its various powers, these studies 
furnish a source of subsequent satisfaction in whatever situation 
the individual may be placed, by storing his mind with princi- 
ples, facts, conclusions, and truths, on which it may feed with 
profit and delight, in defiance of the ills of fortune; or to which 
he may recur as the future means of repairing secular losses, and 
re establishing himself in the world on a footing of support, if not 



15 

of independence. The treasures which may behere acquired, 
unlike the fleeting possessions of the world, have a siamp of per- 
manence upon them. The well furnished youth, when he quits 
the placid groves of learning, may be compelled to betake himself 
to pursuits in a great degree foreign to the particular studies in 
which he was here engaged, and in which but a limited portion of 
the knowledge here obtained, can be turned to effectual use. 
But whatever be his occupation he earries with him, not barely 
a consciousness of the acquisitions, but that beneficia! influence 
which they have already exerted upon his mind, views, and ha 
bits, and that general knowledge of them, which both disposes 
and qualifies him to apply them, if not to any secular uses, at 
least to the promotion of his mental pleasures. It has often hap- 
pened, also, that a collegiate education has been the resource of 
misfortune in its day of anguish. When the ebbing tide of human 
affairs has left the once prosperous individual, like a stranded ves- 
sel, forlorn, bereft, surrounded by a flock of distressed dependents., 
and every obvious mean of subsistence carried off by the remorse- 
less wave, in casting about his desponding thoughts tor some me- 
dium of support, he is brought to the necessity of making an ap- 
plication of his knowledge He begins to clear away the rubbish 
which through indolence, or from not feeling the necessity of ex- 
ertion, he had allowed to collect around his mind, and soon dis- 
covers to his delight the solid but neglected materials of a 
foundation which was laid under the auspices of a college; and 
on this he erects that edifice of maintenance, perhaps of wealthy 
which, in the days oi youth and prosperity, no pressure required 
him to build 



16 

It should not be forgotten, that the studies here pursued are cal- 
culated to produce an elevated tone of mind, and to infuse a por- 
tion of their own dignity into the views and habits of the learner. 
The ssociations into which the youth is introduced, are those of 
the most distinguished men of every age. He discourses with 
philosophers, whose names have long been synonimous with lite- 
rary fame. He imbibes the sentiments of poets and historians, 
who, for centuries, have been the theme of admiration to the 
world. He enters into the mysteries of science, in the company 
of men who have penetrated to the inmost recesses of its various 
departments. He listens to the thunders of that eloquence, 
which, from the stern lips of a D mostheues, waked the slum- 
bering energies of Greece; or from the more polished tongue of 
Cicero, arrested, for a time, that decay into which foreign luxury 
and an unwieldly dominion were hurrying the majestic republic 
that claimed she limits of the known world as the boundaries of 
its empire. The opinions and views which he inhales from such 
associates, are of the loftiest and most comprehensive kind. It 
would be in opposition to all analogy and all experience to ima- 
gine that such associations will not elevate and dignify his cha- 
racter, enlarge and liberalize his mind, and stamp his intellectual 
habits with some ennobling as well as permanent impressions. 
He cannot breathe in such an atmosphere, without imbibing a 
portion of its elevated spirit or its sterling vigor. 

It will be seen at once, that, if collegiate studies produce the 
effects which have been now enumerated — if they stimulate, ex- 
pand, ennoble, and inform the mind, and give precision and mc- 



17 

thod to its operations, they must obviously be calculated to pre- 
pare the individual who submits to this discipline, for the pursuit 
of any professional engagement on which his eye may be fixed: 
for of which of the professions can it, with any truth, be said, 
that it needs not, in the acquisition or the practice of it, the men- 
tal energy, expansion, elevation, and precision, to which I have 
referred- Collegiate attainments are the foundation on which 
the edifice of future professional knowledge is to be reared: 
and its symmetry, strength, and durability, will be in exact propor- 
tion to the character of this groundwork on which it is to rest If 
this be feeble^ disproportioned, carelessly constructed, or of bad 
materials, it cannot serve for any other than a defective, insecure, 
unstable building:. And even if the vouthful student is not de&- 
tined for either of the learned pro r essions, the mental training 
which he undergoes in college, and the knowledge which he here 
acquires, will not be thrown away. They will aid him in what- 
ever occupation he may choose to engage. They will not be lost 
to him in the fields of agriculture, at the marts of commerce, oa 
the mountain wave, or in the tented field. 

It will not be deemed necessarv to cite the authoritv of names 
in behalf of the benefits of collegiate education. In general, it 
will be found that., in modern times, the most distinguished 
names, in every branch of learning, have been once inscribed upon 
the records of a college. And among the comparatively few ex- 
ceptions that may be discovered, where native talent has broken 
£w*W*ri4fci*inate elasticity, and in de« >ite of all obstacle* reached 
in triumph the summit of distinction, the want of collegiate 
3 



is 

training, and of the collegiate attainments, has been, in general, 
strongly felt, and deeply deplored To us, it must ever be an 
argument of overwhelming force upon this subject, that the 
Father of American Philosophers, the venerable Franklin, the 
indomitable vigor of whose mind raised him, unaided by any 
collegiate advantages, to the highest rank in the scientific as in 
the political history of his country, was among the founders of 
the collegiate institution with which we are connected. 

In explaining the course of instruction, and the nature of the 
discipline adopted in the University, I may remark, that, in re- 
spect to the amount and the character of the studies to be pur- 
sued in the College, she need not shrink from a comparison with 
any of her sister institutions. The published statement (a) of 
the course, evinces it to be, in respect of classical and scientific 
knowledge, as full and comprehensive as, in the present state of 
learning, and in any portion of our country, has been deemed 
requisite for a collegiate education. By a recent deterroi* 
nation of the Board, the collegiate year has been divided 
into three terms, (b) at the end of each of which, public 
examinations of the classes will be held, when the parents 
and guardians of the youth entrusted, to the college, will be able 
to form some judgment of the efficiency of our exertions, and of 
the progress of their offspring and wards. The important 
branches of elocution and English composition, are to be made 
subjects of study and practice during the whole four years of 
the collegiate coiarse: and the graduates of this in tfaarftf^Hnwli 



19 

siitution are not to be allowed to leave it, entirely ignorant of 
that immoveable foundation on which the truth of our divine re- 
ligion is built. The evidences of Christianity will hereafter con- 
stitute a branch in the course" of their instruction. 

The manner in which these several subjects will be taught, 
and the extent to which they will- be attained, must depend upon 
the efficiency and zeal of the processors, and the capacity and 
diligence of the student. For the exertions of the former, you 
have not merely the authority of an explicit engagement, but the 
guarantee of their reputation and inteiest, which are staked to a 
wide extent upon the success of the collegiate department of the 
University. In regard to the assiduity of the students, so far as 
it depends upon the faculty, the same pledge exists on our part 
to foster it where it is found, to excite where it is dormant, and 
to infuse it where it is wanting. But as no power is reposed 
with us to change the nature of that capacity with which any 
student may be endowed by his Creator, we are not to be held 
answerable for the ignorance or dulness which results from such 
a cause. It will be our duty to encourage the timid, to rouse the 
heavy, to excite the indolent, to fix the volatile, as well to guide 
the prompt and to aid the assiduous. And when this duty has 
been faithfully performed, we must commit the result to Him, 
who, while he commands us to labor, himself retains the entire 
control of our success. 

g. The discipline of a college is the most difficult, and, at the 
same time, the most material part of its economy. The youths 



20 

of our charge, whilst they strenuously assert the claim to be 
treated as men, are apt very often to conduct themselves like 
boys To curb the volatility of youth with the rein of decision 
ard judgment, to induce the student to respect others by making 
him respect himself, to destroy the temptations to folly by a full 
occupation of the time, to combine in our intercourse with the 
yo ng men the firmness of the governor and the dignity of the 
teacher, with the affability of the associate and the interest of the 
friend — these are the principles of that government which it fs 
'proposed to establish. The cords of discipline are to be tight- 
ened, A close adherence to the rules of the college in respect (o 
diligence, attention, and deportment, will be exacted of every 
individual; and exacted, too, not from the mere desire of rigor, 
but from a much higher principle — from the conscientious con- 
viction that we owe it to the young nun themselves, to the pa- 
rents and guardians who shall entrust them to our care, and to 
the character of the University, to pursue in regard to these 
points a temperate but decided and undeviating course. 

In calling your attention to the claims of the University, I can 
do but little more than barely state the grounds on which they 
rest. They are founded on the advantages which the institution 
affords for the attainment of education; and on its being an insti- 
tution belonging to our city, and more or less connected with its 
character and reputation For efficient and permanent patronage, 
our eyes must be ever fixed upon the distinguished community 
among whom we are placed. In the list of the advantages whicJi 
it offers, I do not hesitate to name the following as eminently 



21 

wo; thy of consideration with every parent and every guardian 
within the limits of our city. 

It is an institution as broad in its principles, and as compre- 
hensive in its course of instruction, as any college within our 
common country. 

It furnishes an opportunity of educating your sons with the 
least possible rxpense. 

It presents the advantage of connecting your own superinten- 
dence of their morals with the attainment of a full collegiate 
education. 

It affords to you a frequent opportunity of witnessing and judg- 
ing of their progress. 

It supplies to them the benefit, and to you the satisfaction, of 
a constant mutual intercourse. 

It casts no necessary clog upon the maintenance and cultiva- 
tion ol those dignified and embellished manners which, at a dis- 
tance from home, and in the rough circles of mere male asso- 
ciates, are so often wrecked on the shoals of uncouthness and 
vulgarity. 

It uncloses none of the avenues to those commotions and diffi- 
culties which grow out of the almost prying supervision which 
in distant colleges, is absolutely needful. 

In short it leaves them, in regard to morals, to health, to intel- 
lect, and to accomplishments, under the watchful inspection of 
that eye, which, of all others, looks with the deepest interest and 
most untiring devotion, to their temporal and eternal welfare. 

It becomes not the Faculty, with whom I am connected, to 



m 

claim, as a body, an equality with the instructors of other insti- 
tutions: but, in behalf of some of my associates,^ c) I may venture 
to refer to that distinction which has been already won by them 
on the arena of education, and placed them in their respective 
departments on an eminence that challenges, to say the least, the 
fullest confidence of this community. Elected to the several 
offices- we hold by the voice of gentlemen who, both as parents 
and as members of the same community, have as high a stake in 
this institution as yourselves, we ask, on the authority of the con- 
fidence which they have reposed in us, a favorable estimate of 
our fitness to undertake the instruction of your offspring; and the 
supply of those materials on which our workmanship is to be 
tested. Without such a degree of patronage as shall enable us 
to exercise such talent and aptitude for our present stations as we 
may possess, it must be obvious that capacity and zeal will avail 
us nothing. We regard it as a decided and gratifying earnest of 
that confidence which we hope to merit, that the number of those 
newly admitted to the College, already exceeds the number with 
which it was committed to our hands.* At a moment when we 
are just placing on our limbs the armor of battle, it does not be- 
come to express nor to indulge the boastful feelings of those, who, 
having triumphed in the contest, are permitted to unclasp the 
helmet and the buckler, to repose in the arms of conquest. We 
are aware of the difficulties of the undertaking in which we are 
enlisted: and, whilst we engage in it with humility, we see not 

* When the College opened, twenty-one of its former students returned. 
The number newly admitted is thirty six; making a total of fifty-seven. 



23 

loitering sky which betokens an adverse result; but are rath- 
er buoyed with the hopes that public confidence will not be 
wanting in our characters, nor public patronage be withheld 
from our efforts, nor public benefit fail to accrue from our 
labors. 

To you, young gentlemen, who are the subjects of our present 
charge, it is proper that I should address a few words of coun- 
sel. Let it be your endeavor fully to appreciate the advantage 
allotted to you in having a collegiate education placed within 
your reach It is a privilege which many have sighed for, which 
comparatively few enjoy, and which may be made the source of 
happiness, distinction, and profit to yourselves, and of un*- 
speakable gratification to your parents and friends. If your ca- 
reer be marked by diligence and assiduity, and by the spirit of 
order and decorum, it will issue in the results which \ have 
named. The meritorious student will be honored. But if, ne- 
glectful of your privileges and duties, and in defiance of the au- 
thority and counsels of your instructors, you should waste your 
time, disregard your studies, and violate the statutes of the Col- 
lege, the stern requisitions of discipline will demand that the 
cord which unites vou to this institution should be severed — se- 
vered to the discredit of your own characters, and at the expense 
of an amount of parental grief and anguish, which it is difficult 
for you to estimate. The highest thrill of satisfaction that pene- 
trates the bosom of the parent is felt, when he witnesses distinc- 
tions bestowed upon his offspring, won by their mental and their 
moral efforts. His deepest feeling of distress is tasted, when he 



t. 



u 

sees them discredited by unworthy conduct, or disgraced by vo- 
luntary ignorance and indolence. The intercourse to be main- 
tained between yourselves and the Faculty, will be marKed, on 
our part, with kindness, affection, and courtesy; but, at the same 
time, with the firm determination to exact from you that respect, 
whch is due to our stations, and which it is honorable in you t» 
manifest; and that diligent attention to your collegiate studies and 
duties which we should be unfaithful to you, to your parents, and 
to ourselves, not to require The Board of Trustees have placed 
in our hands a larger amount of authority in the discipline of the 
College, than has hitherto been entrusted to the Faculty of Arts. 
While this augments our power, it increases also our responsibi- 
lity; and presents an additional motive for the prudent and tempe- 
rate r but firm administration of the collegiate 'government; From 
all who shall unite themselves to this institution a solemn pro- 
mise is exacted that they will be obedient to its statutes, respect 
its Faculty, avoid all combinations to resist its authority, and pur- 
sue their studies with assiduity and zeal Let me express the 
hope, that neither the letter nor the spirit of this engagement will 
be violated by you* that the recent elevatior of the college sys- 
tem will be accompanied by a corresponding elevation of the 
character, feelings, and habits, of its students; and that the ca- 
reer which we have now commenced together, may, in its result, 
redound to your honor and profit, to our credit and satisfaction, 
and to the permanent and solid welfare of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, (d) 



NOTES. 

(a) UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 

The requisitions for entrance into the Freshman Class, are as follows:— 
" Every applicant shall have read Virgil, Sallust, and the Odes of Horace, in 
the Latin; the New Testament, Lucian's Dialogues, Xenophon's Cyropedia, 
and the Grxca Minora of Dalzei, in the Greek language; and learned quan- 
tity and scanning in each. Ke shall also have been taught Arithmetic, inclu- 
ding fractions, and the extraction of roots; English Grammar, and the Ele* 
ments of Modern Geography." 

The course of instruction in the Collegiate Department of the University, 
will be as follows, viz. 

FRESHMAN YEAR. 

/ 

With the Assistant Professor of Moral Philosophy.— Cicero's Orations, 
English Grammar reviewed. Themes. Roman and Grecian Antiquities. 
English Composition. Declamation. 

With the Professor of Languages. — Horace, (Odes reviewed, and satires.) 
Epictetus. Graca Majora, Vol. I. Greek exercises. 

With the Professor of Mathematics. — Arithmetic reviewed. Algebra, to 
quadratic equations inclusive. Euclid's Elements of Geometry. 

SOPHOMORE YEAR. 

With the Assistant Professor of Moral Philosophy. — History and Geogra- 
phy, ancient and modern. Rhetoric. Criticism. Elocution. English Com- 
position. Declamation. 

With the Professor of Languages. — Cicero, (deofficiis et de oratore.) T» 
rence. Horace, (Epistles and Art of P <c try.) Graeca Majora, Vol. 1. com* 
pleted. Homer's Ihad. Latin and Gre -k, exercises. 

With the Professor of Mathematics. — Elements of Algebra and Geometry 
completed. Application ol Algebra to Geometry. Plain Trigonometry (the 
demonstrations analytically.) Surveying and Mensuration. Spherical Geom- 
etry and Trigonometry. 

With the Protessor of Natural Philosophy. — Mineralogy and Geology. Na- 
tural Philosophy commenced, 



26 

JUNIOR YEAR. 

With the Assistant Professor of Moral Philosophy. — Logic. General 
Grammar. Moral Philosophy. English Composition. Forensic discussions. 

With the Professor of Languages. — Juvenal. Perseus. Livy. Grxca 
Majora, Vol. II. 

With the Professor of Mathematics. — Perspective Geography, including 
the use of Globes and construction of Maps and Charts. Higher Algebra. 
Analytical Geometry including conic sections. Differential Calculus 
(Fluxions.) 

With the Professor of Natural Philosophy .—Natural Philosophy completed, 
Chemistry. 

SENIOR YEAR. 

With the Professor of Languages.— Longinus. Former authors reviewed 
or completed. 

With the Professor of Mathematics.— Integral Calculus. Analytical Dyna? 
mics with the application to Physical Astronomy. 

With the Professor of Natural Philosophy. — Astronomy, Courses of Na- 
tural Philosophy and Chemistry — a second time. 

With the Provost — Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion. Meta- 
physics. Natural and Political Law. Elocution. Composition. Forensic 
discussions. 



(b) The first term of the Collegiate year will commence on the 15th day 
of September, and end on the 22d day of December. 

\ The second term will commence on the 6th day of January, and end on the 
l'5th day of April. 

, The third term will commence on the 1st day of May, and end on the last 
d^iy of July; on which day the public commencement will be held, unless it 
be Sunday, in which case the commencement will take plaee the preceding 
Saturday. 

When the terms commence on Saturday, the exercises of the College will 
begin on the Monday after. When the terms end on Sunday, the duties of 
-the College will terminate the preceding Saturday. 



(c\) Dr. Robert Adrain, Professor of Mathematics, and the Rev. Dr. Samuel 
B. Wylie, Professor of Languages; the former of whom was, at different pe- 
riods] a distinguished instructor in Columbia College, New York, and Rutgers 
College, New Brunswick, New Jersey; and is well known as ranking with 
the most profound mathematicians in the country; and the latter was for many 
yevtat the head of one of the first classical schools in the city of PhiladeJ- 



27 

phia, equally distinguished for the extent of his classical attainments, and for 
his success both as a disciplinarian and an instructor. 

Alexander Dallas Bache, Esq, was eminently successful as assistant Pro* 
lessor of Natural Philosophy in the Military Academy at West Point, 



(d) The ensuing brief History of the University, is collected from the Inte* 
resting Discourse of Dr. George B. Wood, pronounced in lb26, before the 
Philomathean Society — a society connected with the University, under the 
management of the under graduates, the design of which is to promote 
their improvement in elocution, composition, and forensic discussions. 

" The subject of the adoption of an extended and liberal system of in- 
struction, suited to the wants of a numerous and mixed people, had fre- 
quently engaged the attention of a few individuals, among whom our great 
Franklin, ever prominent in works of public usefulness, was one of the most 
conspicuous. Their sentiments having beeD communicated to several 
others, excited considerable interest; and the plan of an academy was at 
length drawn up by Franklin, and submitted to the approval of those who 
appeared to be concerned for the success of the project. Twenty -four of 
the most respectable and influential citizens, without regard to difference of 
religious opinion, or of professional pursuit, associated themselves together 
under the title of "Trustees of the Academy of Philadelphia." The scheme 
was now laid before the public, and its patronage requested. Such was the 
spirit of the people, and so obvious the promised advantages, that an ade- 
quate sum was speedily subscribed; and, in the commencement of the year 
1750, the academy went into operation. Three schools, one for the Latin. , 
one for the mathematics, and one for the English tongue, were immediately 
opened; two charity schools were soon added; and so flourishing was the 
condition of the institution, and so fair its prospects of permanent success, 
that the trustees determined to apply for a charter of incorporation, which, 
in the year 1753, they obtained from the proprietary government. The pros- 
perity which continued to attend the undertaking, soon induced them to ex- 
pand their views beyond the limits of a simple academy. In the year 1755, 
the charter, at their request, was so altered, as to confer upon them the 
right of granting degrees, of appointing professors, and of assuming, in all 
other respects, the character of a collegiate body. They now took the title 
of "Trustees of the College, Academy, and Charity School of Philadelphia.'* 
The Rev. Dr. William Smith, the first provost, was a man of distinguished 
abilities, and of no mean reputation as a writer. The degree of doctor in 
divinity, conferred upon him by the university of Oxford, and subsequently 
by the learned faculties of .Vberdeen and Dublin, evinces the esteem in which 



28 

his station, talents and exertions, were held in Europe. The vice-provos*l 
the Rev. Dr. Allison, had long been favorably known in the province as a 
private teacher. Mr. Kinnersley, the professor of English and oratory, was 
the associate of Franklin in his investigations into the subject of electricity ^ 
and the merit of several discoveries in this science is claimed for him by his 
cotemporaries. The* professor of languages was reputed to be inferior, as a 
classical scholar, to none on the continent. 

" the pecuniary resources upon which the trustees lelied, were wholly 
independent of legislative assistance. To the private contributions of the 
citizens, by which they had originally been enabled to commence their ope* 
rations, were subsequently added grants of land and money by the proprie- 
taries, and subscriptions to a cons.derablc a.nount, obtained by the personal 
application of the provost, from the friends of learning in England* The 
funds derived from these sources, united with the proceeds of the school it- 
self, were sufficient to maintain it in a prosperous state, till the breaking out 
of the revolutionary contest. The storm which swept away so many politi- 
cal institutions, and changed, in some measure, the face of civil society, could 
not be expected to leave untouched an estsblishment, the influence of which' 
if properly exerted, might bear so strongly upon the welfare of the country.- 
A pro\ ision of the charter demanded from the officers of the college before 
entering upon their duties, an oath of allegiance to the kmg of Great Bri- 
tain; and it was suspected that the inclinations of some of the most influen- 
tial among them, were but too well in accordance with the obligation of their 
oath. Accordingly, in the year 1779, it was recommended by the executive 
council, that the affairs of the college should be made the subject of exami- 
nation by the legislature; that whatever in its charter or management should 
be found incompatible with the new order of things, should be abrogated, 
and the whole remodelled, so as at once to preserve the original objects of 
the founders, and religiously to guard the best interests of the community. 
The sentiments of the assembly were in perfect agreement with those of the 
council; and a law was enacted, by which it was hoped they might attain the 
end proposed. The oath of allegiance in the former charter was transferred 
to the commonwealth; all the offices of the institution were declared vacant; 
a new board of trustees was appointed; and the old appellation of College, 
Academy, and Charity School of Philadelphia, was exchanged for the more 
highly sounding title of University of Pennsylvania. To show that they 
were actuated by no hostility to knowledge itself, they not only vested in the 
new trustees the property of which the college was before possessed, but 
granted to the University a very considerable endowment out of the forfeited 
estates. However arbitrary the proceeding might be considered, it accorded 
with the predominant feeling of the times; and the party who felt them- 
selves agrieved having used expostulation/ in vain, were compelled to yield 



29 

far the present, and appeal for redress to a period of less political excite- 
ment. The new trustees proceeded immediately to the oigaruzation ot the 
institution. The Rev. Dr. John Ewing, a member of the board, was appoint- 
ed to the provostship, and carried into that office a character of great moral 
excellence, united with extensive acquirements and indefatigable industry. 
At the same time, the celerated Rittenhouse was chosen vice-provost and 
professor of astronomy. 

But the success of the university did not correspond with the lofty pre- 
tensions of its title. Whether the unsettled condition of the country, con- 
sequent upon a long war, was unfavorable to the cultivation of learning* 
whether the dissatisfaction with which many respectable citizens regarded 
the late measure of the legislature, had turne.i the current of patronage to- 
wards the neighboring colleges; or whatever cause may have operated, cer- 
tain it is, that the new school was seldom crowded with students, and its 
commencements seldom graced with a numerous band of graduates. 

" It could not be expected that the trustees and faculty of the old college^ 
should acquiesce quietly in what they conceived to be an arbitrary violation 
of their rights. Many respectable citizens shared in their sentiments and 
feelings; memorials representing their case, were, on several occasions, pre- 
sented to the legislature; and the tumult of party spirit having at length suf- 
ficiently subsided to allow the voice of justice to be heard, in the year 1789, 
a law was enacted declaring the abrogation of their charter an unconstitu- 
tional act, and restoring to them the possession of their estates, and the full 
exercise of their former privileges. 

•« The new school, however, retained its charter, and the property with 
which the legislature had endowed it. There were now, therefore, in Phila- 
delphia, two distinct establishments, each having its own board of trustees, 
and its own faculty. The college and academy were revived under the su- 
perintendence of their former provost; and the university continued in ope- 
ration with no other change than such as necessarily resulted from the latp 
decision. 

" From the experience or anticipation of an adverse result, the schools of 
Philadelphia had been but a short time in operation, when the wish was ex« 
pressed, by both parties, of increasing their strength by a union of interests. 
Accordingly, in the year 1791, the university and college, in a joint petition 
to the legislature, requested such alterations in the acts of incorporation as 
might be necessary for this purpose. A design so obviously beneficial, could 
not fail to meet with approval; and the necessary enactments having been 
obtained, a union on just and satisfactory terms was effected. An equal num- 
ber of trustees from each institution formed a new board, of which the go- 
vernor of the state was ex officio president; and which, by the unrestricted 
right of supplying vacancies, was rendered independent of any other control 



30 

than such as resulted from its obligation to consult the best interest of the 
seminary entrusted to its charge. In the arrangement of the professorships, 
the same regard was paid to the claims of the respective parties; and the 
new faculties in the arts and in medicine, possessed the united strength of 
those from which they were formed. The more comprehensive title of Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania absorbed, of course, that of the College and Acade- 
my, which, after an interrupted duration of nearly forty years, with a fame 
which the success of numerous graduates had spread over the continent, 
was now finally extinguished. 

"Soon after the union of the schools, the edifice which had been 
erected by the state of Pennsylvania as a residence for the Presi- 
dent of the United States, but declined on constitutional grounds by Mr. 
Adams, who then filled the office, was purchased by the trustees, and ap- 
plied to the purposes of the university. 

Thus newly organized and located, the institution has remained to the pre- 
sent time without a rival in the city. Dr. Ewing continued to preside over 
it till the period of his death, in 1802, since which time his place has been 
successively occupied by Dr. M'Dowell, the Rev. Dr. Andrews, the Rev. Dr.. 
Beasley, and the present Provost." 

The following gentlemen compose the Board of Trustee^, 
THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE, ex officio, 

President of the Board. 
Right Rev. WILLIAM WHITE, D. D. 
EDWARD BURD, 
WILLIAM RA VLE, L. L. D. 
BENJAMIN R. MORGAN, 
J A VIES GIBSON, 
HORACE BINNEY, L. L. D. 
WILLIAM MEREDITH, 
BENJAMIN CHEW, 
Rev. JAMES P. WILSON, D. D. 
ROBERT WAJLN; 
JOHN SERGEANT, L L. D. 
THOMAS CADWALADER, 
NICHOLAS BIDDLE, 
ZACCHEUS COLLINS, 
PETER S. DUPONCEAU, L. L. D, 
CHARLES CHAUNCEY, 
JOSEPH HOPfclNSON, L. L. D, 
JOSEPH R. INGERSOLL, 



31 

Rev. PHILIP P. MAYER, D. D. 

PHILIP H. NIC KLIN, 

Rt. Rev. HENRY U. ONDERDONK,D. D. 

JOSEPH REED, Secretary & Treasure*. 



Professors in the Collegiate Department. 

The Rev. WILLIAM H. DE LANCEY, D. D. Provost, and Professor of Mo- 
ral Philosophy. 

ROBERT ADRAIN, L. L. D Vice Provost, and Professor of Mathema- 
tics. 

The Rev. SAMUEL B. WYLIE, D. I). Professor of Languages. 

ALEXANDER DALLAS BACHE, Esq. Professor of Natural Philosophy 
and Chemistry. 

The Rev. EDWARD RUTLEDGE, A. M. assistant Professor of Moral 
-Philosophy. 

EDWARD RUTLEDGE, Secretary. 

Professors in the Medical Department. 
Philip Syng Physic, M. D. Professor of Anatomy. 
Nathaniel Chapman, M. D . of the Institutes and Practice of Physic, ailcl 

of the Clinical Medicine. 
William Gibson, M. D. of Surgery. 

John Redman Coxe, M. D. of Materia Medica and Pharmacy. 
Robert Hare, M. D. of Chemistry. 
Thomas C- James, M. D. of Midwifery. 
William E. Horner, M. D. Adjunct Professor of Anatomy. 
William P. Dewees, Adjunct Professor of Midwifery. 
SAMUEL JACKSON, assistant to the Professor of the Institute and* 

Practice of Physic and of the Clinical Medicine. 

WILLIAM E. HORNER, Dean. 



ERRATA. 

dissociates for associate page 6, 3d line from top. 

Dele its p. 10 2d paragraph, end of 3d line. 

Carries for earries, p. 15, 8th line from top. 

Insert as before "to guide" p. 19, 7th line from bottom. 

Inser* its before "to express" p. 22, 5th line from bottom. 



